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Rafael Hohenstaufen
Lord Rafael Hohenstaufen 1173-1250 was a famous german born baron, soldier, diplomat, poet, writer, humanist, philosopher and freedomfighter. He lived in England and Ireland during the last 25 years of his life where he served as Speaker of Parliament, Royal Ambassador and Grandmaster of the order of Sangreal ( Brothers of the true blood). He is famous for his obsession with freedom and his struggle against tyrrany and oppression. He and Owain Davis have often been called " The men who united England" Early Life Rafael was born in merchant city of Leipzig 1173. He was the son of a famous scholar and composer, Josef Hohenstaufen, and the noble lady Maria Louise. They had two other children, a younger son named Albrecht, and a daughter, 2 years older than Rafael, named Eleonore. Rafael did not like to study, and instead of stuyding he played with his many friends in the city. He was however very intelligent. He had already at a young age great knowledge of history and different languages. He could speak German and italian fluently at the age of 10. He could also speak english fairly well at the age of 12. Despite his hate towards teachers( the teachers hated the young arrogant boy as well!)Rafael took many music lessons. The young boy loved music and often sat in the local church for many hours listening when the monks sang their gregorian chants. His father also inspired him to write a few music pieaces on his own. Rafael also loved adventures, and often joined his father on his many journeys throughout the german lands. It was on one of these journeys he met Helmut Hoffmeister, the grand duke of Saxony. It was the duke who introduced the young Rafael to poetry and philosophy. Rafael was very inspired and even began to write his own poems and philosophy texts. His father however hated poetry and called it " meaningless rubbish" so Rafael had to write it in secret. At the age of 18 Rafael was sent to the holy lands to fight against the heretics. It was there he was forced to join the holy order of St John. The holy land Rafael arrived in the holy lands in 1192. He became a knight of St John and served in Acre for many years. It was in 1193, in the city of Antioch, he met Owain Davis, the adopted son of Helmut Hoffmeister, the duke of saxony. The two men became close friends and served together on many missions during their time in the holy lands. Rafael was facinated with the tall black haired englishman, he even wrote a book about him during the last years of his life. The war in the middle east against the saracens raged on and the two men were sent to two different cities. Before they split up they decided to meet in England someday when the war was over. Rafael was a hospitaller, and his primary job was to take care of the poor and sick people. During his 10 years in the holy land Rafael saw many horrible things and this even caused him to resign from the order of St John. In 1202 Rafael left the holy lands. Time as a diplomat When leaving the holy lands, Rafael sought to use his ability to pursuade people and become a diplomat. He tried to convince the Doge of Venice to employ him and he did. Rafael, now diplomat of venice, also managed to make peace between the two city states Venice and Genoa during his 3 years as diplomat. Having gained a small amount of fame, he was able to become diplomat of Milan as well. He negotiated peace between the Holy Roman Empire and the said city state. He served Milan for 2 years then he turned to the germans. He became imperial advisor and imperial ambassador. For 5 years he served the kaiser. He recived the honorary rank of Count of Leipzig and became known amongst the courts of europe as "the peacemaker". Now more and more kings and doges wanted his help, he returned to Italy and served Genoa for 1 1/2 years. He served Sicily for 6 months. He even served as papal diplomat for 1 year. He was employed by both the spanish and the portugise king to help them to negotiate peace, and he did. After 16 years as a european diplomat, Rafael recived a letter from the french king. The king asked him if he could help him to deal with the burgundians that were plundering the french borders. Rafael, despite his growing hate towards the french kingdom ( after some events in the holy lands) accepted the mission and dealt with it perfectly. After 2 years in France, 1218, Rafael started his journey towards England. Rafaels time as a diplomat was a very important period in his life, he became famous in europe, he became rather wealthy and he gained a lot of knowledge. His career as poet began in Italy 1204, and during the 18 years in Europe he wrote hundreds of poems and also historical texts. Involvement in the Sangreal During his time in Italy and France he came in touch with a secret order named Sangreal (true/royal blood). The order strived to uphold peace and prosperity in the world, an idea Rafael liked. Rafael joined the order in 1208 and never left it. Arrival in England He arrived in England in the year 1220. He settled down in London and lived there until he was employed by king Henry Lancaster some months later. He later also became royal ambassador. He met his friend Owen Davis after almost 20 years. After 8 months however, Rafael was arrested by the Archbishop and the king for his behavior in the house of Parliament. He had called the crusades " a senseless and greedy powerstruggle between imoral lords", " a bloody slaughter" etc etc.. He was therefore placed in the tower to await his staged trial. However, fate had other plans for Rafael. Time in the tower Thus he was placed in the tower, and stayed there for over 6 months. He survived mainly because of his friend Owain, the man he actually had argued with in the Parliament. (People believe that the discussion was staged but that is unknown) Owain supplied him with food and new clothes two times every week. In this prison cell, Rafael is said to have become “mad”. He started to write on the walls, “Freedom” “Heresy is the path to eternal peace” and other things. He started to write a book in the cell as well, called ‘In the service of mankind”. The campaign against the tyrants In the cell he also started to plan a rebellion against the king and church. And after 6 months in the tower, he managed to escape with the help from Owain. The two brothers then became outlaws. And fought against the king and the church for over 2 years. They became freedom fighters and stole money from the rich and gave it to the poor. But when the king started to kill innocent men, women and children to capture the two outlaws, this “campaign against the tyrants” ended. The two outlaws surrendered and accepted their destiny. They were going to burn at the stake. The day of the execution was a day of great importance in English history. The two freedom fighters refused to acknowledge the king and the king was about to give the final order when the Archbishop Caradog stepped in and challenged the king. The king had burned down a chapter house of st John and had thus killed over 200 good Christian men. The Archbishop pulled his sword and was prepared to fight the king, but suddenly the king collapsed from his horse, dead. Many historians think that the deadly assassin Marco Polo killed the king with a poisoned arrow, there is no evidence of that though. The Archbishop released the two outlaws and gave their old titles and honour back. Faking his own death Rafael could now go back to his normal life, without any further chaos, but that was not his destiny, he said. He together with some knights and his friend Owain travelled to Ireland to hunt down a famous beast. This entire operation was staged by the now quite powerful order of Sang real. Rafael fought this “beast” but was injured, and almost died. He then apparently turned into a ware wolf. Owain then killed Rafael with 3 arrows in the chest. This death was a faked one. Everything was made up so Rafael would be able to disappear, until he was needed again. It is believed that in Ireland the first Rafael died, but the second one came alive. Exile During his long exile, Rafael organised the order of Sangreal. He gathered new members and ultimately became Grandmaster of the order. The order established itself in Ireland, secretly of course. He together with his son and the order helped Owain to stage his death in Dublin. Dethroning of Alerick After 2 years Rafael and Owain together with the order returned to England and started a civil war. The king, Alerick was killed and Owain was crowned king. A great victory for the two freedom fighters. Madness of King Owain Rafael then became Baron, Royal Ambassador and Bailiff of London. For many years he served his friend the king well, he also defeated the rebel Edward in Scotland and received a reward of 100 florins. But one day, at one of the annual royal meetings, the king refused to listen to the will of the people, Rafael turned mad and shouted loudly. “You have betrayed our holy ideals brother! Denying the people the right of freedom! You’ve becomed the very thing you swore to destroy, you’ve becomed a tyrant Owain, a tyrant!” Rafael then, started to organise another rebellion. But when the king invited him to the winter feast, he had to accept. He visited the feast but didn’t eat anything, something was wrong. Robert, the lord chief of justice, stormed into the castle and tried to kill all of the nobles, he almost succeeded with killing Rafael but he managed to escape. His friend King Owain later died, at least everyone thought so. Placing the Wilsons on the throne Rafael then found evidence of Geoffry Wilson’s right to the throne, and through many different struggles with royalist forces, he managed to place Geoffry on the throne. Endgame After some months a great riot begun throughout England, and Rafael was determined to crush this rebellion at once, England had experienced enough chaos. Rafael saved thousands of civilians in London but when he returned to his barony Somerset and Dorset he changed. People say he turned mad or evil, no one really knows. What we do know is that his son came to England, and Rafael in anger slained him. Then Rafael slaughtered most of the population of Somerset & Dorset. He burned according to some sources over 20 villages. A united England declared war upon him. Rafael kidnapped Arn Magnusson, another member of the order of Sang real and tortured him for several days. Gareth the brave then tried to save Arn but was captured by Rafael’s guards. Gareth was then also tortured for several days and nights. The English troops arrived late one night, and after a huge battle the king’s forces managed to break through the wall and attack Rafael and his soldiers. Rafael then killed Gareth the Prince of Wales on the main square of the castle. Then a duel between him and Robert started. Rafael was a 62 year old man and Robert was a man in his 30’s, so the outcome was certain. Rafael was slained by Robert Lancaster. There are however rumours of this all being planned. Gareth survived and was a part of this plan. Rafael also survived according to this legend and went to Ireland. Rafael died at the age of 62. When he died England had become a strong united state. The Order of Sang real was going strong, and peace and prosperity was on the way to England. Rafael died for a united England, England needed a man that dared to be the man everybody hated. They needed an evil man, so they could all unite. Rafael died for his ideals, so perhaps he never became mad? Perhaps he only did it because he had to? 'The legend ' According to many myths and legends, Rafael survived the grand plan. He escaped to Scotland and then to Ireland. In Ireland he continued to strenghten the order of Sangreal and died peacefully on Clare Island in Ireland 1250, at the age of 77. The legend and rumours are all based on a diary that was found in Pontefract castle by Earl Fletcher de Lacey ( davis) in 1350. The diary is full of different notes, letters and documents all written by Rafael. The current location of the diary is unknown. "Something which all of us should learn is that life has no manners "